LESS than two years remain before President Hussein Ali Mwinyi concludes his initial five-year term in office, leading up to another general election for Zanzibaris in late 2025.
When he started his term on November 3, 2020, he was tasked by his political party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), among other assignments, to generate at least 300,000 job opportunities for the youth, as outlined in the party's 2020/2025 election manifesto.
Preliminary results following a study about employment status, for both formal and informal sectors, show that the total number of jobs generated from November 2020 to September 2023 is 187,651, with women grabbing the biggest share - 94,622 (50.4 percent) while men 93,029 (49.6 percent).
Briefing journalists about the development of his office since Dr. Mwinyi assumed office, the Minister of State - Office of the President (Labour, Economy, and Investments), Mr Sharif Ali Sharif, said the President is almost beating the job creation target.
The Minister commended Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, and Dr Mwinyi for their efforts in creating an enabling environment to increase job opportunities that contribute to building the country's economy and uplifting people's lives by promoting Tanzania internationally, leading to job creation.
"I urge my fellow Tanzanians to maintain the existing peace and stability, prerequisites in achieving all development goals," he said, adding that having a new Zanzibar Investment Law No. 10 of 2023, as well as the amendment of the labor law No. 11 of 2005, has also helped promote investment and create a conducive working environment on the isles.
Mr Sharif explained that Dr. Mwinyi has been sparing no effort in finding opportunities for his citizens and that the people of Zanzibar have witnessed great progress, especially in strengthening investment and economic empowerment, which also leads to economic growth of Zanzibar, which has grown from 6.8 per cent in 2022 to 7.1 per cent in 2023.
Improving the ability of entrepreneurship, promoting internal and external investment, and promoting access to decent jobs, along with empowering young people to be self-employed by providing loans, training, and connecting them with markets, has helped many youths," Sharif said.
He said that in addition, his ministry in 2023/2024 successfully increased jobs by 65.9 percent due to confirmed contracts from 6,348 jobs in 2022/2023 to 9,630 in 2023/2024 employed in private schools, hotels, and the industry sector.
The availability of employment abroad has also been increasing from 1,080 jobs in 2022/2023 to 3,078 jobs for the fiscal year 2023/2024. Youth are helped to acquire jobs abroad, particularly in Middle Eastern countries.
"This increase is due to growing good relations with foreign countries and also strengthening Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and economic diplomacy.
"The government also has provided loans to 9,123 beneficiaries in 2022/2023 worth about 15.8bn/- and 2,045 others worth more than 7.9bn/- in both Unguja and Pemba," he said youth get self-employed by establishing projects and businesses of their choice.
He said another opportunity for job creation is by the implementation of distribution funds collected from Local Government Authorities (LGA) to women, youth, and people with disabilities at the ratio of 4:4:2.
Last year, a total of 2.1bn/- was collected, but it is not enough to meet the big demand for the youth to get loans, "Fortunately, the World Bank has agreed to top-up by providing funds for the youth support program."
In additional development in increasing job opportunities for youths and women, the Ministry registered 1,822 cooperative associations in the year 2022/2023 and 1,560 associations for the year 2023/2024 with the aim of promoting efficiency so that they can operate well and contribute to the economic growth of the country.
He explained that they also provided training to entrepreneurial cooperatives engaged in beekeeping, fruit and vegetable farming, solar power equipment manufacturing, marketing, and bakery, and they have been getting training.
The entrepreneurs were connected with various markets through exhibitions including East African trade exhibitions, Sabasaba international trade fair, and Mapinduzi exhibitions, where the number of entrepreneurs connected to markets has increased from 148 entrepreneurs in 2022/2023 to 194 in 2023/2024.
The executive director of the Zanzibar Investment Promotion Agency (ZIPA), Mr. Saleh Saad Mohammed, said that the registration of 63 investment projects with capital worth US1,499 million dollars and expects to provide about 4,392 jobs.
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In addition, he said that more projects are being registered and that 12 major investment projects were launched by laying the foundation stone during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Zanzibar Revolution.
He said his office has signed agreements for the establishment of huge projects in the Telecommunications, Transportation, and Infrastructure Sector worth US302 Million Dollars and also coordinated the signing of four Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the Energy Sector, Telecommunication Sector, and Banks including NMB and NBC.
The issuance of work permits to 2,960 foreign workers, which is 148 per cent of the target, has led to the collection of more than 2.6bn/- "This is due to changes made on both investment and immigration laws, extending the permit period from one year to two years, and other incentives."
He said that in the 2024/2025 fiscal year, which starts in July this year, the office will coordinate the availability of 3,500 jobs abroad and 15,000 jobs in the local formal sector as well as developing skills for 110 young people to be self-employed.
